Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet opens season with Jerusalem Solo Dance Festival performance

Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet has launched its new season with a performance of a miniature by the troupe's artistic director Mariam Aleksidze and featuring its dancer Mariam Koiava at the Jerusalem Solo Dance Festival on Tuesday.

The short production, entitled The Street and based on Aleksidze's 2012-produced ballet of the same name, brought to the stage of The Hansen House venue in the city a portrait of a woman telling the story of her life over the five minutes of the performance.

It was the first of the two-show bill for the work at the festival, with the second performance scheduled on Wednesday. The festival is built around solo productions by choreographers from Israel and around the world.

Aleksidze staged her original ballet a decade ago at the State Ballet of Georgia, with the work comprising four miniatures and based on music by Joseph Haydn. She later restaged the current miniature from the production in 2019 for an event marking her decade in choreography at Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet, a troupe she founded in 2016.

The artistic director said it was a "great honour" to have her work selected for the festival programme, noting the prominence of contemporary dance in Israel's performing arts scene and adding the selection was a significant networking opportunity for the Georgian company.

The performance of The Street at the Jerusalem festival is supported by Georgia's Embassy in Israel and Tbilisi City Hall, with the latter institution having supported the contemporary dance company's founding as well.

Aleksidze's troupe launched their new season a week ago, with their domestic performances to start with a bill of Dovin-Doven-Dovli, a 2016 staging based on poetry by Georgia's notable poet Galaktion Tabidze, at the Rustaveli Theatre in Tbilisi.

Their focus on bringing the choreography of George Aleksidze - the late Georgian choreographer the troupe is named after - back to the stage will continue with a staging of his work based on music by composer Alban Berg, with the group also planning regional tours and workshops.

Aleksidze said talks by Professor Davit Maziashvili, master classes and educational video projects would also be part of the new - seventh - season, with the company also set to continue incorporating new students. The artistic director herself also plans to premiere a new work during the performing year.